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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 12th, 2022–Mar 13th, 2022

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Banff Yoho Kootenay.

The new snow is a welcome reset and great skiing exists in sheltered areas! Areas with the most new snow and wind will have a slightly increased hazard, and we still have some uncertainty around the buried persistent layers in the snowpack.

Weather Forecast

Winds will diminish Saturday night and stay light to moderate from the SW through Sunday before increasing back into the moderate to strong range Sunday night. A mostly cloudy day with a few cm's of new snow is expected for Sunday with treeline temperatures in the -5 to -3 C range. Freezing levels will rise to about 1800 m by Sunday afternoon.

Snowpack Summary

5-15 cm of new snow over a buried sun crust on steep solar aspects. New wind slabs/cornices forming in the alpine with moderate to strong SW winds. Feb 16 sun crust down 30-40 cm on steep solar aspects. Jan 30 sun crust or facet interface down 50-80 cm. The lower snow pack is generally well settled with typical weak facets found in shallow areas.

Avalanche Summary

Wind slabs in the alpine up to size 2 have occurred in the past couple days. Over the past ten days some cornice failures have occurred and a couple triggered deeper persistent layers. One large skier triggered persistent slab avalanche occurred on an E aspect on Vermillion Peak on Tuesday which highlights the uncertainty with the buried crusts.

Confidence

Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain on Monday

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.